The invention relates to a process for producing (cigarette) packs, especially hinge lid packs made of a pack blank of (thin) cardboard and a collar blank connected therewith, with folding tabs being folded in succession into a finished pack position. The invention further relates to an apparats for conducting this process.
When packs made of relatively rigid pack material such as thin cardboard are produced, i.e. folded, problems often occur because portions of the blank can not be folded into their proper final position as a result of a constructional overlength. This problem for instance occurs in the production of hinge lid packs (for cigarettes), when the pack blank and a collar blank, which is commonly used in these type of packs, are formed in a single piece. Such a pack blank or a pack made thereof is for instance shown and described in DE-A-28 13 390. In this pack type, the collar blank is arranged on a front wall of a pack part.
The afore-mentioned technical problem in folding packs occurs when the portion consisting of pack front wall and collar blank is folded into the final position, especially from an upright position into a horizontal position to abutt the pack contents (cigarette block). In this folding movement, blank portions, namely collar side tabs, have to be inserted into a position between already folded blank portions and the pack contents. Due to lack of space, said portions can not be folded into the final folding position by just pivoting the pack front wall with collar blank.